Favorite Teams

Power of snow prayers

Theresa M. KaneAfter third grade students from Chapin Street Elementary School in Ludlow led the School Committee in the Pledge of Allegiance, School Superintendent Theresa M. Kane complimented the students and told them to “Dream snow” in anticipation of a snow day the following morning.

The predicted heavy snowfall never materialized, although a snow day was called throughout the state

Not par for the course

Joseph F. WagnerHouse Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, in a speech on the House floor, talked about his visit last fall to Callaway Golf Co. in Chicopee.

DeLeo told House members that Callaway manufactures golf balls in the hometown of Rep. Joseph F. Wagner, but it apparently has not helped Wagner’s golf game.

“I think I am a better legislator than I am a golfer,” Wagner said later.

There goes the judge

It was a fond farewell for Superior Court Judge Richard F. Connon when he was feted on Dec. 17 at a retirement reception at the Cummaquid Golf Club in Yarmouth Port.

Richard F.ConnonConnon entered the practice of law in Holyoke with the firm of Davenport, Millane and McLellan which eventually evolved to Davenport, Millane, Connon and Ryan before 1982 when Connon was first appointed to the District Court. He was elevated to the Superior Court bench in 1990. He stayed in Western Massachusetts until 1995 when he moved to Cape Cod and sat most frequently in recent years in Barnstable County Superior Court in Hyannis.

His reception was a virtual who’s who among the court crowd, including two chief justices, Robert A. Mulligan, of the Trial Court, and Barbara J. Rouse, of the Superior Court, two district attorneys, Michael O’Keefe, who represents the cape and islands, and Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel, along with judges from the district, superior and probate benches, including Constance M. Sweeney from Springfield.

The speakers included Mulligan; Rouse; Superior Court Judge Gary Nickerson; O’Keefe; Connon’s former law partner, Edward J. Ryan, of South Hadley; and son Jeffrey R. Connon.

Not quite a match

The Merriam-Webster word of the day for Feb. 10 was effulgence, which means radiant splendor or brilliance. Not a word that seemed right for the midwinter’s day when the snow came to Springfield, home of Merriam-Webster. What’s worse, while knowing the definition of effulgence would no doubt help expand many people’s vocabulary, it is awful tough to ever get a chance to use it in Scrabble

Hitting it out of the park

Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles D. Baker was in Springfield recently to kick off his campaign with state Sen. Richard R. Tisei, his running mate for lieutenant governor.
Charles D. BakerThe pair appeared at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and Baker drew applause when he said: “I know who Curt Schilling roots for.”
The crack was directed toward state Attorney General Martha M. Coakley, who gaffed during her U.S. Senate race against Scott P. Brown when she now famously said Schilling, the former Boston Red Sox star pitcher, is a New York Yankees fan.

But Baker was not done. Reaching further back into Red Sox lore, he told the audience: “And, I also don’t think it was all Bill Buckner‘s fault back in 1986.” Baker didn’t elaborate. Enough said.